featuring guest authors; crafting tips and projects; recipes from food editor and sleuthing sidekick Cloris McWerther; and decorating, travel, fashion, health, beauty, and finance tips from the rest of the American Woman editors.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

TRAVEL WITH SERENA--VACATION TRAVEL TIPS

photo by Jorge Royan

Travel Tips

Summer
vacation will be here before you know it. Here are some handy tips to make
getting to your vacation destination more enjoyable:

Back when
airlines still offered free services to coach passengers, I always used to grab
one of those complementary little pillows as soon as I entered the cabin. They
can be back-savers, especially on long trips. However, most airlines are no
longer offering this fluffy little perk (along with all other perks, unless
you’re traveling business or first class.)

So I suggest
you pack a small pillow in your carry-on. Place it between your lower back and
the seat, and you’ll find your flight far more comfortable, no matter how
packed the plane. This works for train trips as well.

And don’t
cross your legs! (Not that most planes give you enough leg room to do so
nowadays.) When you cross your legs, you put stress on your pelvis and hips.
This contributes to lower back pain.

Although the
airlines stress that it’s important to remain seated with your seatbelt
securely fastened at all times, if you’re taking a long flight, it’s imperative
that you walk or stand every two hours to keep your blood circulating and
prevent blood clots from forming in your legs.

If you’re
traveling by car, stop every couple of hours to stretch and walk around. It’s
also not a bad idea to do a bit of stretching and/or walking prior to starting
your car journey.

Be prepared.
No matter how you travel, make sure you pack everything you need. I keep a list
of must-haves on my smart phone. Before I take any trip, I check the list
against what I’ve packed, making sure I’ve remembered such essentials as
prescription meds, sunscreen, hair care products, all necessary clothing
(underwear, pj’s, etc.,) and emergency items such as band-aids, aspirin, etc.

Along with keeping
medications and valuables in my carry-on, I also pack at least one outfit, an
extra pair of shoes, and several pairs of undergarments in my carry-on bag. Why?
Because in 2012 nearly 1.8 million pieces of luggage were lost, stolen, or
damaged on domestic flights alone. That’s 3.09 bags for every 1,000 passengers
heading to DisneyWorld, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, or anywhere else you’re
planning to take your family this summer. If something happens to your luggage,
you don’t want to be stuck without a few basic necessities before your luggage
is found and returned to you.

3 comments:

Good tips, thanks. I want to add something that was a life saver on my last trip to Rome. I lost my passport during the day and had no idea it was missing. Fortunately, I had a tracer tag on it. A waiter where I ate lunch found it and entered my tracker number on the website. I was automatically sent a text message (and an email) with a pickup location before I ever even knew my passport was missing. Lucky for me, I was leaving in the morning for Germany and getting a new passport would have been impossible. Tags are available through mystufflostandfound.com That tag saved my trip from total disaster and I put them on my phone, laptop and almost everything that travels with me now.

Newsletter

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SCRAPBOOK OF MURDER

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 6

SLEUTHING WOMEN II: 10 MYSTERY NOVELLAS

LITERALLY DEAD: an Empty Nest Mystery, Book 2

SLEUTHING WOMEN: 10 FIRST-IN-SERIES MYSTERIES

A collection of 10 full-length mysteries featuring murder and assorted mayhem, each the first book in an established multi-book series

A STITCH TO DIE FOR

Book 5 in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series

MOM SQUAD: a Shadow Ops Novella

WE'D RATHER BE WRITING

BAKE, LOVE, WRITE

DEFINITELY DEAD

An Empty Nest Mystery, Book 1

CRAFTY CRIMES

a Trio of Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mysteries

PATCHWORK PERIL

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery

DECOUPAGE CAN BE DEADLY

MOSAIC MAYHEM

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery

REVENGE OF THE CRAFTY CORPSE

CREWEL INTENTIONS

an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery

DEATH BY KILLER MOP DOLL

ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN

THE ANASTASIA POLLACK CRAFTING MYSTERIES

Read about Anastasia in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery seriesby Lois Winston. Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the series, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Kirkus Reviews called it "North Jersey's more mature answer to Stephanie Plum." Assault With a Deadly Glue Gunwas also a Book of the Year Award nominee from ForeWord Reviews, a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist, and a Readers Choice Award nominee from the Salt Lake City Library System. Other books in the series include Death by Killer Mop Doll, Revenge of the Crafty Corpse, Decoupage Can Be Deadly, A Stitch to Die For, and Scrapbook of Murder, plus three mini-mysteries: Crewel Intentions,Mosaic Mayhem, and Patchwork Peril. Look for more of Anastasia's adventures coming in the future.

About Me

I'm the crafts editor at American Woman magazine; the single parent of two teenage boys and a Shakespeare quoting parrot; caretaker to a semi-invalid, communist mother-in-law from Hell and her demon dog; daughter to a multi-married descendant of the Czars (supposedly); reluctant cat-sitter to Mama's extremely corpulent white Persian cat; a born Jersey girl; and star of my own amateur sleuth mystery series.